17/08/2026
On 17 August, Hertfordshire Building Control celebrates its 10th anniversary.
And HBC's story has always been one of collaboration.
HBC was established in 2016 following several years of planning by seven founding Hertfordshire local authorities: Broxbourne, East Herts, Hertsmere, North Herts, Stevenage, Three Rivers and Welwyn Hatfield.
The councils came together with a shared ambition: to create a resilient, collaborative building control service that could pool expertise and resources while continuing to deliver the local authority building control service for their communities.
Dacorum Borough Council joined in 2018, bringing HBC to the eight local authority shareholders we have today, with each council holding an equal share in the business.
The world of building control has changed enormously since 2016. The Building Safety Act, the introduction of the Registered Building Inspector profession and new requirements around competence, accountability and record keeping have transformed the regulatory landscape.
HBC has changed with it.
Today we have 32 Registered Building Inspectors, supported by a strong programme of apprenticeships, mentoring and professional development. More than half of our current staff/RBIs have been trained from scratch or developed in-house, and this year five of our Building Control apprentices graduated with First Class Honours degrees and became Chartered Members of CABE.
We have also continued to invest in technology and stronger ways of working, with Submit-a-Plan and InspectMate improving inspection evidence, audit trails, workflow and access to building control information.
But the principle behind HBC remains remarkably close to the one that brought those seven councils together a decade ago: combining expertise and resources to provide a strong, professional local authority building control service.
Ten years of collaboration.
Ten years of developing our people.
Ten years of supporting safe and compliant building across Hertfordshire. 🏗️💙
Thank you to our shareholder councils, our colleagues past and present, our customers and everyone who has been part of the HBC journey.
Happy 10th anniversary, Hertfordshire Building Control! 🎂
Dacorum Borough Council Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council Hertsmere Stevenage Borough Council Broxbourne Council North Herts Council East Herts Council Three Rivers District Council
LABC - Local Authority Building Control
